Our lawmakers don’t deserve re-election – Niger Delta leaders

Niger Delta leaders yesterday called on their people to vote out current members representing them in the National Assembly in the 2019 General election.

The leaders described their region’s members in the National Assembly as insensitive, self-serving and incompetent insisting that they have no business in the assembly.

They wondered what the lawmakers especially Senator Ben Bruce representing the Bayelsa East with all his commonsense posturing were doing when all items concerning the Niger Delta in the budget were slashed.

One of the leaders and former President of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) worldwide, Udengs Eradiri, said there was no commonsense in reducing budgetary allocations for critical projects in a region, which produces resources to finance the entire budget.

Eradiri said the actions of the lawmakers were provocative, sad and painful saying that the representatives were the real problems of the Niger Delta.

He said it was obvious that the Federal Government and President Muhammadu Buhari meant well for the South-South and South-East regions.

Eradiri said the region was particularly pained by the reforms real reductions of budgetary allocations for the East-West road and the Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State.

He said: ” It is unacceptable. This goes further to expose the kind of leadership that we have. I have further come to the conviction that the Federal Government is actually not our problem but our own people are our problems.

“Where were our senators and our representatives from the Niger Delta when the budget went through the House. How come they don’t have a caucus that looked at those items that concern the Niger Delta and ensure that the are funded to better the lives of our people?

“Niger Delta people are their own problems. What are the qualities of individuals they send to represent us? They cannot defend our people. They have no business in the National Assembly. Niger Delta people must vote out such individuals.

“How can they sit down and allow our budgets to be reduced? It means that the President mean well for the Niger Delta but the Niger Delta representatives don’t mean well. How can they allow the East-West road to be reduced?

“It is unimaginable that the lawmakers watched as the budget for the Maritime University which became the centre of disputes and led to the formation of all kinds of groups that caused bloodshed in this country and brought down the economy, was reduced.

“Senators from the region were busy talking about commonsense but they don’t have commonsense to look at what concerned the region. It is annoying, provocative, sad and painful.

“If it were my days in IYC, l would arranged to flog them. But Niger Delta people should not allow such persons go back to the National Assembly. We should emphasise on quality of persons representing the region. Niger Delta representatives are a disgrace”.